Urban Lab Global Cities (ULGC): The Editor's Pick | Wounded landscapes ı Shimpei Takeda

8/14/2012

The Editor's Pick | Wounded landscapes ı Shimpei Takeda | Trace

A photographic project that I just discovered is Trace — Cameraless records of radioactive contamination. A project by Shimpei Takeda, a Japanese artist born and raised in Fukushima Prefecture but based in New York. This project is part of the forthcoming (and at top of my wish-list) book named Making The Geologic Now. I yesterday talked about Dredge Research Collaborative's event DredgeFest coming up these September 28th and 29th.

Related Article —
ULGC | The Editor's Pick ı The Yellow Bay Island

Making the Geologic Now is edited by Elizabeth Ellsworth and Jamie Kruse and published by Punctum Books. It will be released this November. A long list of contributors including Rob Holmes/Dredge Research Collaborative/m.ammoth, Shimpei Takeda, Brooke Belisle, Jane Bennett, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Elizabeth Ellsworth, William L. Fox, David Gersten, Ilana Halperin, Geoff Manaugh/BLDG BLOG, Jamie Kruse, Etienne Turpin, Nicola Twilley, among many others.

Trace - Cameraless records of radioactive contamination | ©Shimpei Takeda

Back to what concerns us today, namely Shimpei Takeda's photographic installation: Trace. Shimpei Takeda documented the environmental consequences of nuclear disaster in Fukushima.

Former Kashiwa Military Airbase, Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture | © Shimpei Takeda
> "Sunny. Air: 0.519µSv/h; Soil: 0.623µSv/h" Shimpei Takeda

With Shingo Annen, a hip-hop activist, and architect Keisuke Hiei, he collected soil samples from twelve locations:

Radiation was measured with Radalert 100, a handheld Geiger counter, at approximately 4ft from the ground for air measurement, and directly on the ground for soil measurement:

1. Kegon Falls (Nikko, Tochigi) Air: 0.249µSv/h | Soil: 0.446 µSv/h
2. Former Kashiwa Military Airbase (Kashiwa, Chiba) Air: 0.519µSv/h | Soil: 0.623µSv/h
3. Former Kasumigaura Naval Air Force (Ami, Ibaraki) Air: 0.415µSv/h | Soil: 1.007µSv/h
4. Shioyasaki Lighthouse (Iwaki, Fukushima) Air: 0.228µSv/h | Soil: 1.152µSv/h;
5. Nihonmatsu Castel (Nihonmatsu, Fukushima) Air: 1.651-1.910µSv/h | Soil: 3.302-4.299µSv/h
6. Asaka Kuni-tsuko Shrine (Koriyama, Fukushima) Air: 1.142µSv/h | Soil: 3.780µSv/h
7. Iwase General Hospital (Sukagawa, Fukushima) Air: 0.363µSv/h | Soil: 0.560µSv/h
8. Kamayama Limestone Quarry (Tamura, Fukushima) Air: 0.289µSv/h | Soil: 0.415µSv/h
9. Nakano Fudoson buddhist temple (Fukushima, Fukushima) Air: 0.67µSv/h | Soil: 1.030µSv/h
10. Chûson-ji buddhist temple (Hiraizumi, Iwate) Air: 0.321 µSv/h | Soil: 0.45µSv/h
11. Hyaku-Shaku Kannon (Soma, Fukushima) Air: 0.633 µSV/h | Soil: 2.637 µSv/h
12. Lake Hayama Mano Dam (Iitate, Fukushima) Air: 1.848µSv/h | Soil: 6.438µSv/h*Natural Background